


Jae!!! on Ice

by GayIsMySpecialty



Series: Jaeyong [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Cute, Fluff, Ice Skating, Inspired by Yuri!!! on Ice, Light Angst, M/M, pls give me hits uwu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 19:06:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18834853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayIsMySpecialty/pseuds/GayIsMySpecialty
Summary: My name is Jung Jaehyun, a 22-year-old ice skater from South Korea. My dream has always been to skate on the same ice as Lee Taeyong - six-time world champion who has beat countless records, including his own, and trained under the great coach Lee Sooman himself.





	Jae!!! on Ice

**Author's Note:**

> I recently re-watched YOI, and I'm getting really impatient for the next season. Someone hold me back.
> 
> Let me know if you like this sort of thing, anime-inspired fanfictions. I certainly do. I have Seraph of the End in mind.

My name is Jung Jaehyun, a 22-year-old ice skater from South Korea. My dream has always been to skate on the same ice as Lee Taeyong - six-time world champion who has beat countless records, including his own, and trained under the great coach Lee Sooman himself.

I first began watching Taeyong skate when I was little - Taeyong's home rink is mine as well. We grew up in the same area, and we were good friends for a while. In fact, he was my one and only friend. Until he started hanging out with the wrong crowd.

You see, Taeyong was a troubled kid. His parents had passed away in a car accident, and his grandmother lives in a nursing home due to spinal issues. He was air-headed and stubborn; he preferred to achieve his goals before looking after himself. And his goal at the time was to gain as many friends as possible. Which normally leads to trouble with said friends.

To me, Taeyong has always been an unreachable, mesmerizing creature way out of my league. Even years back, on those afternoons we would both spend at the not-too-crowded ice rink. I would watch as Taeyong made those incredible jumps and moved his body so beautifully that it seemed the music was obeying him, doing exactly what he wanted.

Taeyong was other-worldly on the ice. Magical. Utterly beautiful.

Until that horrible, dreadful day.

 

-

 

"Oh, Jaehyun, you're still up? Sweetie, it's time you go to bed. You're always at that rink exhausting yourself."

"Mom, Taeyong is performing in a minute," Jaehyun said in a hushed voice, cuddling up more with his pillow and turning the laptop towards the door where his mother stood.

She immediately perked her eyebrows. "I thought he wasn't supposed to perform today due to his knee!"

Jaehyun nodded. "He decided to perform anyway, saying it was only a very minor twist to his joint. His coach was reluctant about it and told him to avoid quads."

His mother sat in his bed beside him, adjusting the computer so they could both see it well.

Just then, the announcer gave Taeyong's introduction, and all voices in the large stadium rink hushed as the man himself skated onto the ice.

He was wearing a flowing, dark pink costume that matched his hair. He looked stunning in his outfit, the skates adding a beautiful flair of black and magenta. The contrast of the ice was eye-catching, to say the least.

He took a pause in the middle of the rink, and once the music began, Taeyong was a masterpiece.

His movements flowed perfectly into his first jump, a quadruple toe loop. His body held his weight graciously on the landing, so his knee seemed to not bother him. His next jumps were a combination of a triple axel, a loop and a triple salchow. It was a signature of Taeyong's, which he mastered very early on in his career.

The choreography Taeyong was working with was pretty difficult, even for a veteran skater and dancer. The next move he was supposed to perform was the camel spin, in which his leg is bent back and held perfectly straight. But Jaehyun sensed that something was off.

He's known Taeyong for a very long time, and he knows that he's a very flexible skater. Hell, anyone watching just one of his performances could tell that he was. But the way he posed while spinning just didn't look right. He seemed to struggle holding up his leg for such a short time.

That's when it happened.

Taeyong slipped forwards, his skate buckling underneath him. He couldn't catch himself in time before his free leg smacked the ice hard. If Jaehyun had been there at the rink, he was quite sure he would've been able to hear the breaking, shattering of his knee.

He didn't get up from the ice. Jaehyun went deaf to his panicking mother, the announcer worriedly cutting off, the crowd's murmuring, his eyes locked on the laptop screen.

 

-

 

Fast-forward two months. I live in a newly-built apartment building now, closer to the rink. I slightly regret it, because after that day, I have hardly felt enough courage to even look at the building.

I consider hanging up my skates for good all the time. Watching the person I've cared so much about all these years have their dreams and future crushed in a manner as devastating as an accident like that makes me feel ashamed that I have never, not once, tried so hard at something I love because I have the ability to do it. I'm a coward, afraid of chasing my dreams just to stay in my comfort zone.

I'm a hypocrite, I guess. Taeyong did exactly that, but I scorned it, hated leaving my comfort and safety. Now I'm wishing I did when I had the chance.

 

-

 

Jaehyun closed his journal after finishing his self-deprecating thoughts. He would save writing more for a later date - he had to get to the store where he worked before he was late. He picked up his bag from the floor, tied his shoes, and headed out.

It was a little chilly for a late spring morning, which made Jaehyun glad that he brought his jacket with him. He remembered his wallet today, which is a feat in itself; he tends to forget things, having to run back home all the time. He was readjusting his backpack straps when someone with a cane suddenly bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, I-"

"That's alright, Jaehyun. I should've been watching where I was going."

The voice immediately drew his attention. His eyes met those of an angel's, as deep and soft as he remembered.

Jaehyun gasped, tears welling in his eyes.

"Welcome home, Taeyong," he gasped. Taeyong just smiled and offered a hug, which Jaehyun gladly took.

Once they broke apart, Jaehyun eyed him intensely. "How long have you been home? Have you visited my family yet? How are you feeling? Why have-"

Taeyong chuckled. "Calm down, calm down. I just got here. My flight from China landed a couple of hours ago. I was actually on my way to visit the ice rink… I thought that maybe you would be there."

"Oh…" Jaehyun looked down at his shiny black shoes, shuffling them against each other.

"I haven't… gone back to the ice rink in a while."

Taeyong blinked up at him with wide, confused doe eyes. "What? Why not?"

Jaehyun looks away to the left, the opposite direction of the said building and doesn't answer. With Taeyong standing right in front of him, it made him feel even more ashamed of his cowardice.

Taeyong tilts his head with a quizzical look on his face. "It can't be because of my accident, right?" He lightly taps his clothed damaged knee with his cane. Again, Jaehyun doesn't answer.

Taeyong huffs. "Where are you headed to?"

"Work," Jaehyun mumbles.

"Where?"

"Jimmy's."

Taeyong took his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialled a number. Jaehyun just watched him curiously.

After a couple of rings, someone picked up. "Yes, hi, I'm calling on behalf of Jung Jaehyun. He will not be showing up to work right away, there was an accident. Thank you, have a nice day!" Without waiting for a proper response, he hung up the phone and put it back.

Jaehyun looked at him in shock, his mouth slightly open. Taeyong reached up with a gloved hand and closed his mouth.

"That's not polite. Now then, let's go!" Taeyong grinned and grabbed Jaehyun's hand before heading towards the ice rink.

-

"It's just like how I remember," Taeyong sighed dreamily once they're inside, already having checked in at the counter. It really was still the same, from the chipped red paint on the walls of the entrance to the shoe racks lining them.

"Yeah, the benches haven't even been replaced," Jaehyun chuckled, sitting on one, which caused a loud squeak of protest from the bolts barely holding it to the ground. Just then, Mark Lee, the younger timid boy who works the counter came to the room carrying two pairs of skates.

"We've kept your old skates clean and undamaged, Mr. Lee," he said shyly, holding them out for the older to take. Taeyong smiled at him and took them with a bow.

"Thank you. It means so much to me that these skates have always been in good hands." He sat down next to Jaehyun, who accepts his own pair from Mark, and they put their skates on.

Taeyong had a bit of trouble bending his knee to properly put them on, so Jaehyun got down and helped him tie the laces. The skates are a beautiful deep to sky blue ombre, with sparkles littered here and there. Jaehyun has always thought that they match the man perfectly - an ice prince adorning his crown upon his territory that is the ice.

After he is done, he looked up at the smaller, whose eyes sparkled with many emotions that were impossible to pick apart. Jaehyun had an inkling that this was the first time he had worn skates since the accident, and the first time that he's worn his old skates from early days since he left to pursue his dream at seventeen.

Taeyong snapped Jaehyun out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder. "What, now that we know the glass slipper still fits, are you going to kiss me?" he asked mischievously. Little did he know, Jaehyun would seriously take up that offer in a heartbeat.

But instead of reacting, he just stood up and helped Taeyong to stand. The smaller wobbled a little but kept on his feet with the help of his cane and Jaehyun's supporting arm. They walked through the entrance and entered the rink before Jaehyun took off their skate guards and stepped onto the ice.

Jaehyun gripped Taeyong's arm still and looked into his eyes. "Go," the older said. "Go ahead. I know you want to."

Jaehyun reluctantly let go after he made sure Taeyong held onto the side boards and skated to the center of the ice. He smiled at the other who smiled back and did a few figure eights before coming back.

"I want to show you something I was working on a few months ago. I hope you like it," he said, showing off his dimples cutely and reaching for a remote on a bench close to the ice. Taeyong nodded.

"When I get to the center, press the button," Jaehyun whispered, standing close to the other and handing him the remote. He skated back to the center and took position.

When the music began, a slow, soft ballad, it's like nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing else existed except the boy on the ice, skating his heart out.

It was not meant to be a competing program; it was mostly choreography and few jumps and spins. Jaehyun's movements were precise and beautiful, showing to the world his skills not only of dance, but also of capturing the essence of the melody and beat. Taeyong was officially breathless, in awe of the other.

Jaehyun's aim was not to impress an audience. That was never his goal of skating, and that's the reason why he decided not to pursue a career. His aim was Taeyong, and catching his eye only. He didn't care about anyone else's gaze on him, just Taeyong's.

 

-

 

I know I will never look at the ice the same way again. It has become lonely without him, and it yearns for a skater just as great as he was. But now, despite the fact that the bridge that connected me to Taeyong for all those years has broken and burned, there are so many new bridges that are being built.

I am a greedy, selfish man. I have the unreachable ice prince by my side off the ice every day now, and I never, ever plan to let him go.


End file.
